BMW pioneered modern automotive infotainment systems with its original iDrive of the early 2000s. But for its next-generation EVs, the automaker is rethinking everything.
Revealed at CES 2025, BMW Panoramic iDrive will be the default hardware and software setup for new models starting at the end of this year — including the Neue Klasse (German for “new class”) EVs that represent a similar clean-sheet approach in other areas, from batteries to exterior styling.
This latest version of iDrive adopts a thin display surface at the base of the windshield, spanning the entire dashboard. This setup, which is similar to what Ford has done with its latest infotainment systems, aims to put more information higher up and thus closer to the driver’s line of sight. That includes expected information like speed, navigation prompts, and driver-assist functionality, plus up to six driver-selectable widgets for secondary information.
The main display is supplemented by a smaller touchscreen in the traditional position between the front seats. It features matrix backlighting tech for improved resolution, and the QuickSelect menu logic from current iterations of iDrive to prioritize frequently used functions. Drivers can also rely on built-in voice recognition, which BMW says will incorporate large language model (LLM) software.
Additional controls can be found on the steering wheel in the form of haptic buttons BMW claims can be easily found by touch. Haptic switches also take over most of the functions normally delegated to control stalks and levers, like windshield wipers, turn signals, and shifting. That should give future BMW cabins a very uncluttered look.
While the main panoramic display occupies the visual real estate of most current head-up displays, BMW plans to offer one of those as well. Boasting 3D graphics, it will be used for navigation and driver-assist functions.
Underpinning all of this is the new BMW Operating System X. Like the Operating System 9 it’s set to replace, the new system is based on an Android Open Source Project (AOSP) software stack. But BMW claims “greater update and upgrade capability,” as well as the necessary coordination between the dashboard hardware bits.
BMW has technically shown Panoramic iDrive to media before, notably at an event in April. But this time around, BMW revealed the final production-intent version, Head of BMW Group Design Adrian Van Hooydonk told The Tech Spot.
BMW didn’t do away with all displays. There’s still a central touch screen display on the dashboard where drivers and passengers will find climate and other common settings, a 3D map, and a carousel of customizable widgets. And there’s an optional head-up display in front of the driver that floats above the panoramic UI.
The shift to this new UI — officially called Panoramic iDrive — also means the death of BMW’s love-it-or-hate-it, knob-based iDrive system. Now more than 20 years old, Weber claimed most drivers hardly use the iDrive knob outside of scrolling through things like long contact lists or zooming in and out of maps. In China, he said, drivers don’t use it at all.
The removal of the iDrive knob, plus the focus on the central display and windshield, means BMW drivers will control the Panoramic iDrive UI through a combination of haptic steering wheel buttons and voice control. The latter will involve a new BMW digital assistant that is powered by a white label LLM.
“We want to have more information right in front of you, where you are driving, to support the idea of of hands on the wheel, eyes on the road,” Weber said. “And the outcome was, yes, there will be fewer physical buttons.”
The new UI will include third-party app support, and unlike some competitors, BMW is not moving away from Apple CarPlay support.
“We control everything because what we want to have is an interface that is deeply connected to the functions of the car,” Van Hooydonk said. “Of course, we will also offer things like Apple Car Play and so on, and in China and other systems, and they will be integrated as far as possible. But you cannot completely control all the car functions. We want to keep that to ourselves as well as the the customer data.”
For example, when the driver receives an incoming phone call, an icon will appear on the main display while a steering-wheel button illuminates to make taking the call seamless.
BMW said the Panoramic iDrive system will start to appear in new models from the end of 2025. That’s also when BMW plans to launch its first Neue Klasse EVs in Europe (the U.S. may have to wait a little longer). The Neue Klasse marks BMW’s return to dedicated EVs as opposed to adding electric powertrains to existing internal-combustion vehicles, as with current models like the i5 and i7.
